Religious Worker Work Visa — Support a candidate's visa application
If you represent an organisation whose main purpose is to advance religion, and is also a registered charity, you may be able to recruit religious workers from overseas. You will need to be able to offer your candidates a job doing religious work and your sponsorship.
What an employer needs to do
Sponsorship
You must sponsor your candidate while they are in New Zealand.
You must complete a 'Sponsorship Form for Religious Workers' and include:
- a description of the religious work you are sponsoring
- evidence you have the financial ability to provide the sponsorship
- an explanation why your organisation has a genuine need for the candidate to do religious work for it.
While a visa holder you sponsor is in New Zealand you must make sure they have: You must also pay the cost of their return travel to their home country, if they do not intend to pay for it themselves. If they are to be
Alert Who can sponsor a visa applicant You can also sponsor the partner and dependent children of someone you are sponsoring. If you do this, you must cover the same costs for them. Including family in your visa application If the person you sponsor has a visa with
Your responsibilities as a sponsor begin from the date the person you sponsor arrives in New Zealand. If they are already in New Zealand, your sponsorship begins on the date their visa is granted. Your sponsorship responsibilities end on the date the person you are sponsoring: Alert The person you sponsor can be
If you have not paid the costs you are responsible for, and they are paid by a third party or the New Zealand Government, that amount becomes your debt. If you do not pay, we can take you to court to recover the debt even if the person you are sponsoring:
Your responsibilities as a sponsor
If you sponsor a visa holder, you are responsible for them while they are in New Zealand on that visa.
Support you must provide
Even if the person you sponsor has agreed to pay for some or all their expenses, you are still legally responsible for those expensesSponsoring a visa applicant's family members
If the person you sponsor travels in and out of NZ
When your sponsorship begins and ends
You cannot withdraw your sponsorship. It continues even if the person you sponsor stays in New Zealand without a valid visa.
If you do not meet your obligations
Job offer
You must provide your candidate with an offer of religious work.
If the work you are offering is paid salary or wages, you must provide a copy of an employment agreement. If the work you are offering is paid by any means other than salary or wages or is unpaid, then you must provide a description of that work.
The work must be in substantially 1 or more of the following religious activities:
- teaching religious scripture or philosophy
- leading religious ceremonies, worship or prayer
- ordaining new religious leaders, initiating new members into your religious community, carrying out religious ceremonies
- providing spiritual guidance and care.
What happens next
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Step 1: Religious worker applies for a work visa
For your religious worker to be able to work for you, they will first need to apply for a work visa.
For us to accept your worker's application, they must send us all the information we ask for, including a copy of their employment agreement and/or job description.
We also need you to provide a completed 'Sponsorship Form for Religious Workers' to your candidate, which forms part of their application.
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Step 2: Wait for a decision
We make a decision about your workers application as soon as we can. You can view our historic visa timeframes below.
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Step 3: Religious worker starts work
As soon as your religious worker has been granted a work visa, they can come to New Zealand.
Prepare for when your workers from overseas arrive
Get organised before your new employee arrives in New Zealand. Put together information to help them settle into your workplace and life in New Zealand.From the first contact with your new employee to the time they arrive in New Zealand, be positive but realistic. Do not promise anything that you or New Zealand cannot deliver. You will only set migrants up for disappointment if life in New Zealand is not what they expected.
You can help your new migrant workers to prepare for work and life in a new country through giving them the information they need.
Some information is best provided before they leave and some when they arrive.
Much of this preparation will only need to be done once. If you hire migrant workers in the future, you will be very well prepared.
Where to start
If you are unsure of what things to consider, our checklist will prompt you with ways you can help your migrant employee. It includes things to do before they arrive, upon their arrival and during their first days at work.
Prepare information for your new staff
It pays to prepare some tailored content for your new migrant staff. If you don’t already have it, you may want to create:
- an orientation programme to introduce your workplace
- a welcome kit with local information about the region, accommodation and transport information.
You could also prepare existing staff for your new migrant employee by announcing their upcoming arrival on your website or staff communication channels, for example, noticeboards.
Use our resources to help your new staff
Send your new staff links to our tools and online resources to help your them plan their move before they leave their home country.
NZ Ready planning tool
Moving to a new country can be a daunting task for your new employee. The best way to help your new employee with their move is to guide them to NZ Ready, Immigration New Zealand’s free online planning tool. This tool asks a series of questions that will help them to create a comprehensive personalised to do list to follow.
Get ready for New Zealand — NZ Ready
Cost of living calculator
What it costs to live in New Zealand may be quite different from a migrant's home country. This tool helps migrants to understand the cost of living in various parts of New Zealand.
Think beyond the workplace
Provide information about life in New Zealand during the recruitment process. Your new employee needs to know what to expect in relation to:
- basics of life in New Zealand such as housing and healthcare
- schooling and employment opportunities for their partner and children
- community support available.
A happy, settled family makes for a happy and productive employee who is more likely to remain loyal to you.
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Step 4: Religious worker may apply for another visa
If you wish to offer continued religious work and sponsorship, your religious worker may apply for another Religious Worker Work Visa.
If they have already been doing religious work in New Zealand on a valid Religious Worker Work Visa for 3 years, they may apply for a Religious Worker Resident Visa. If they are granted residence, they will be able to work and live in New Zealand permanently.